A fake driver’s license can open a bank account in another person’s name, and federal prosecutors say three people used that trick to try to cash more than $2 million in stolen Treasury checks. IRS Criminal Investigation says the checks were pulled out of the mail before they reached the people they were meant for.
The three defendants, two from Brooklyn and one from Tampa, are charged in a federal indictment. The charges are allegations. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
How the mail theft allegedly worked
In an October 13 announcement, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) named Stanley Richardson Joseph and Kallie Nicole Valerie Halliday, both of Brooklyn, New York, and Kristy Marie Bochecchio of Tampa. The agency says they intercepted U.S. Treasury checks that had been placed in the mail for delivery to victims. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the case.
Prosecutors allege the group then made counterfeit driver’s licenses that matched the victims’ names and identities. They allegedly used the licenses to open new accounts at various financial institutions and deposited the stolen checks into those accounts. The announcement does not name the banks.
The indictment charges conspiracy, theft of government money or property, and aggravated identity theft. If convicted on all counts, each defendant faces up to 10 years in federal prison. The indictment also gives notice that the government intends to seek forfeiture of proceeds traceable to the offenses. No court dates or pleas have been announced.
Four agencies and one prosecutor
IRS-CI led the investigation, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration also investigated. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations in New York assisted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Merrilyn Hoenemeyer is prosecuting the case.
IRS-CI says its criminal cases can start with information from IRS staff, tips from the public, or investigations already underway at other law enforcement agencies, according to its page on how criminal investigations are initiated. A theft that begins in a mailbox and ends at a bank counter can touch all of those channels at once.
The announcement does not say what the stolen checks were for. It does not say they were tax refunds, and nothing in it ties the case to any single program. What it does show is how a check mailed to someone else can be turned into cash without the true owner ever knowing.
That raises a plain question for anyone expecting a federal check in the mail: what happens if it never shows up? People who are waiting on an IRS tax refund check have a defined path, and the first step is to wait out the normal processing time before assuming anything has gone wrong.
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When an IRS refund check goes missing
The IRS says on its refunds page that a paper refund check should arrive within four weeks of the issue date. Before then, the Where’s My Refund tool, the IRS app or the automated line at 800-829-1954 shows the status. E-filed refunds typically arrive about three weeks after filing, and refunds on mailed returns typically take six weeks or more from the day the IRS receives the return.
Once the full time has passed, people who file as single, married filing separately or head of household can start a refund trace through the refund tracker or the IRS app, or by calling 800-829-1954. The tracker and app cover current-year refunds only. Married couples who filed jointly are directed to call 800-829-1040 or send a Form 3911.
What the IRS does if the check was never cashed, or was
If the check was not cashed and is less than a year old, the IRS says it cancels the check and mails a new one within four weeks. A check more than a year old is reissued with a CP32 notice. If the IRS cannot do that, it sends a CP32A notice asking the taxpayer to call for a replacement.
A check that someone else cashed follows a different route. In that case the Bureau of the Fiscal Service sends the taxpayer a claim package, and the IRS says its review can take up to six weeks. That is the situation the Florida case describes: a payment deposited by someone who was never meant to have it.
The IRS also encourages people to try its self-help tools first, including Where’s My Refund and their own tax transcripts. Those tools show whether a refund was issued, and when, which is the information a trace needs.
Who sends Form 3911, and where it goes
Form 3911 is the Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund. The IRS describes it on its Form 3911 page as the document that gives the agency the information needed to trace the nonreceipt or loss of an already issued refund. It applies to refunds sent by direct deposit or paper check that the taxpayer never received.
The form is mailed to the Refund Inquiry Unit for the taxpayer’s state. Florida filers send it to Austin, Texas, and New York filers send it to Holtsville, New York. Filers in California, Washington, Oregon and several other western states send it to Fresno, California. Taxpayers abroad and in U.S. territories use the Austin unit. The page was last updated October 14, 2026.
The form is for IRS refunds only. Checks from other federal agencies have their own reporting routes, and the Florida announcement does not address them. The open question for any reader is whether a missing payment was an IRS refund, which Form 3911 covers, or a different federal payment, which it does not. The paying agency’s name on the check stub or notice settles that.
Treasury check late in the mail?
A refund check that goes missing is not always a postal delay. Checks mailed to the wrong hands can be deposited under a stranger’s name, and the taxpayer may learn it only when the money never arrives.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit walks through the refund-trace steps, including how to fill out Form 3911, and adds a refund status tracker spreadsheet for keeping dates and call notes in one place. Its notice decoder explains what the IRS letters after a trace actually mean.
Get the Form 3911 trace steps and refund status tracker →
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
